WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- A Pentagon review over the status of more than 500 detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has decided that 38 people held there were no longer considered "enemy combatants" and would be set free, a senior official said Tuesday.

A Pentagon review over the status of more than 500 detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has decided that 38 people held there were no longer considered "enemy combatants" and would be set free. (Reuters)

    Navy Secretary Gordon England, who is overseeing the review, told a Pentagon news conference that five of the 38 have already been sent to their home countries. The 33 others are still awaiting transportation.

    England said a three-member review panel found that in the 38 cases there was insufficient evidence to support the their designation as "enemy combatant." He did not disclose the nationalities of those detainees.

    The panel found that the rest of the 558 detainees whose cases were reviewed were properly classified as "enemy combatant," he said. The Pentagon defines "enemy combatant" as an individual "who was part of or supporting the Taliban or al-Qaida forces, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners."

    The Bush administration labeled detainees at Guantanamo, most of them captured from the war in Afghanistan, as "enemy combatant," saying they were not covered by the Geneva Conventions.

    The Pentagon started the review after the Supreme Court ruled last year that Guantanamo prisoners have the rights to challenge their detention without charges. Enditem